By Ricky, on December 17th, 2012
Further to my previous post, yesterday was judgement day for the ExpatsBlog.com Awards 2012 for the Czech Republic. And I came third – I got the Bronze Award.
I am very grateful to everybody who took the trouble to follow the link in my previous post and ‘left some love’ for my blog in the comment box. I shall say something about those kind comments a little further into this post. There were also, a number of people who promised to go there and leave a comment, but who never did – sigh 🙁 Whilst the number of positive comments was not meant to be the only criteria by which blogs were judged, it is noticeable that the two blogs which finished ahead of me were the two that also got more comments than me.
The winner of the Gold Award was . . . → Read More: The Expats Blog Awards 2012 – Bronze Award for the Czech Republic
By Ricky, on November 28th, 2012
A spire with wires & lights in Prague © Ricky Yates
I’m not very good at ‘blowing my own trumpet’. I am still amazed that this blog currently gets an average of 70 hits a day and that in less than four years, I’ve written and published 205 posts. But clearly many people enjoy reading what I write and I’m grateful to everyone who kindly leaves comments on what I’ve posted here.
However, a few weeks ago, I received a most surprising email. In fact I was so surprised by what the email said, that it’s taken me some time to initiate appropriate follow-up action. For the email kindly informed me that, “’Ricky Yates – an Anglican in Prague’, has been nominated for the Expat Blog Awards 2012”. As you can see from the badge displayed at the top right-hand corner of my home page, . . . → Read More: Fame at last! – The Expats Blog Awards 2012
By Ricky, on November 26th, 2012
The Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate © Ricky Yates
The Sony Centre, Potsdamer Platz © Ricky Yates
The Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate lies at the heart of the Historic Mitte/Historic Centre of Berlin. It was the backdrop to the events of 9th November 1989 that unfolded on television screens around the world and to which several people have made reference in their comments on my previous post about the Berlin Wall. As can be seen in my photograph above, it has now been fully restored to its former glory and it is hard to imagine the concrete panels of the Wall dividing east from west, that used to run directly in front of it.
A short distance south of the Brandenburg Gate is Potsdamer Platz, which until the Second World War, was the bustling heart of the city. Post 1945, it lay in ruins . . . → Read More: Berlin
By Ricky, on November 19th, 2012
A preserved section of the Berlin Wall © Ricky Yates
It is more than a little ironic that Berlin’s most popular tourist attraction, for the most part no longer exists! For 28 years, the Berlin Wall symbolised the Cold War and the division of Europe between the democratic and capitalist west, and the communist one-party states of the east, even if the communists did try to proclaim themselves as ‘democratic’ with the official name of the former East Germany being the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR).
Construction of the wall began shortly after midnight on 13th August 1961 when thousands of East German soldiers and police rolled out massive lengths of barbed wire, cutting streets in two and preventing East Germans from travelling into West Berlin. Shortly afterwards, the barbed wire was replaced with a wall made of concrete slabs.
The Berlin Wall was a desperate measure by . . . → Read More: The Berlin Wall
By Ricky, on November 12th, 2012
The card and message left under my windscreen wiper – name, email & phone details removed by me for obvious reasons 🙂
At the end of October, I took the last week of my annual leave for 2012 and with Sybille, visited Berlin for a few days, before travelling back to Prague via Wittenberg.
We were kindly hosted by our two friends, Alex and Bernd, who live in Wannsee on the south-western edge of the German capital city. On Monday 22nd October, we drove north-west from Prague along the motorway to the Czech-German border near Dresden, before heading northwards on the German autobahn to the outskirts of Berlin. Then, following Alex’s instructions, we carefully made our way to the street where their apartment is located.
Unfortunately, Alex’s last instruction, said ‘turn right’ when it should have said ‘turn left’. But we eventually spotted the correct . . . → Read More: Alles in Ordnung – Everything in order
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